EP3092270B1

EP3092270B1 - A process for recovering polyester from polyester/ wool blend

Info

Publication number: EP3092270B1
Application number: EP15733231.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Vidhya Rangaswamy; Anurag Srivastava; Vijai BALACHANDRAN; Harshvardhan Joshi
Original assignee: Reliance Industries Ltd
Current assignee: Reliance Industries Ltd
Priority date: 2014-01-06
Filing date: 2015-01-06
Publication date: 2019-05-15
Anticipated expiration: 2035-01-06
Also published as: US9932456B2; EP3092335A2; JP2017504694A; EP3092270A1; CN105960489A; EP3092335B1; US20160304694A1; WO2015101960A1; US20160311997A1; WO2015111071A3; EP3092270A4; EP3092335A4; TW201605939A; CN106164150A; JP6517235B2; WO2015111071A2; JP2017503067A

Description

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a process for recovering polyester. Particularly, the present disclosure relates to a process for recovering polyester component and products of non-polyester component from an article comprising a polyester/wool blend.

BACKGROUND

Polyesters and its blends with various substances such as wool and silk find applications in various articles such as apparel, home furnishings, upholstery, containers, carpets and the like owing to their flexibility and a range of desirable properties.
Waste or used polyester is either burned or buried in landfills. These methods, although common in practice, are immensely detrimental to the environment. This is because the microorganisms present in the soil are unable to degrade the polyester which causes its accumulation in the soil. Such accumulated polyester mars the growth and development of the flora and fauna present in the sub-soil environment thereby disturbing the ecological balance.
Attempts have been made by the scientific community to tackle the afore-stated dilemma. The conventional methods, however, are associated with certain drawbacks such as use of expensive hydrolyzing agents and complex methods which render the process of recycling cumbersome. Therefore, there exists a need to provide a simple and effective process which facilitates easy separation of the polyester from the blend and which renders the polyester and the other hydrolysis products suitable for recycling or reuse.

OBJECTS

Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment is able to achieve, are discussed herein below.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a process for recovering polyester component from an article comprising a polyester/ wool blend.
It is still another object of the present disclosure to ameliorate one or more problems of the prior art or to at least provide a useful alternative.
Other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings which is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a process for recovering a polyester component and products of a non-polyester component from an article comprising a polyester blend. The polyester blend comprises a polyester component and a non-polyester component; the polyester component being polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and the non-polyester component being wool. The process comprises hydrolyzing the article using at least one hydrolyzing agent to convert said non-polyester component into products of the non-polyester component; thereby releasing the polyester component.
The concentration of the hydrolyzing agent is ranging from 3 to 5% (w/v). The pH is ranging from 7 to 14 to convert said non-polyester component into products of the non-polyester component, and release the polyester component.
The hydrolyzing agent includes at least one alkali selected from the group consisting of sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate. The step of hydrolyzing the article is carried out at a temperature ranging from 90 to 160 °C for a time period ranging from 10 to 90 minutes and at a pressure ranging from 34 to 172 KPa.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will now be described with reference to accompanying non-limiting drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of PET/ Wool (75:25) fabric blend after undergoing the process as disclosed in Example 1, wherein
- Figure 1A represents Control PET/ Wool (untreated), wherein:
  1. (a) represents polyester; and
  2. (b) represents wool;
- Figure 1B represents PET/ Wool after treatment with alkali, protease and lipase; and
- Figure 1C represents PET/ Wool after treatment with 4% NaOH.
Figure 2 illustrates Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of PET/ Wool (75:25) fabric blend after undergoing the process as disclosed in Example 2, wherein
- Figure 2A represents PET/ Wool fabric after treatment with 0.5% (w/v) calcium carbonate, wherein:
  1. (a) represents polyester; and
  2. (b) represents wool;
- Figure 2B represents PET/ Wool fabric after treatment with 0.5% (w/v) sodium carbonate;
- Figure 2C represents PET/ Wool fabric after treatment with 0.5% (w/v) calcium hydroxide; and
- Figure 2D represents PET/ Wool fabric after treatment with 0.5% (w/v) sodium hydroxide.
Figure 3 illustrates Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of PET/ Wool (75:25) fabric blend after undergoing the process as disclosed in Example 3, wherein
- Figure 3A represents Control PET/ Wool (untreated), wherein:
  1. (a) represents polyester; and
  2. (b) represents wool;
- Figure 3B represents PET/ Wool fabric after treatment with 0.5% (w/v) sodium carbonate;
- Figure 3C represents PET/ Wool fabric after treatment with 1.0% (w/v) sodium carbonate;
- Figure 3D represents PET/ Wool fabric after treatment with 2.0% (w/v) sodium carbonate;
- Figure 3E represents PET/ Wool fabric after treatment with 3.0% (w/v) sodium carbonate; and
- Figure 3F represents PET/ Wool fabric after treatment with 4.0% (w/v) sodium carbonate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Production, distribution and consumption of polyester and polyester blends has increased significantly over the years. This has, however, consequently aggravated the problem of their waste disposal. The inventors of the present disclosure have developed a process for the recovery and reuse of polyester and non-polyester components from used or waste article containing polyester blends so that the necessity of their disposal in the environment is eliminated. For the purpose of the present disclosure, the term 'article' besides having its standard meaning, includes any product made up of a polyester/wool blend and is selected from the group consisting of apparel, home furnishings, upholstery, containers, carpets, tubes, stripes and pipes. In accordance with the process of the present disclosure, the polyester blend is composed of a polyester component and a non-polyester component. The polyester component is polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and the non-polyester component is wool. The article, before initiating the process described herein below, is optionally subjected to shredding.
In accordance with the present process, the article is hydrolyzed at pre-determined temperature, pressure and time duration using at least one hydrolyzing agent to convert the non-polyester component into its products; thereby causing release of the polyester component. The pre-determined temperature ranges from 90 to 160 °C, the time period for hydrolysis ranges from 10 to 90 minutes and the pre-determined pressure ranges from 34 to 172 KPa(5to25psi). The hydrolyzing agent used in the present disclosure includes at least one alkali selected from the group consisting of sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate and has concentration ranging from 3 to 5%. In one embodiment, the process of hydrolyzing is carried out in an autoclave. After hydrolysis, the products formed are optionally neutralized to wash off the hydrolyzing agent.
After alkali hydrolysis, the article may optionally be subjected to enzyme treatment to convert the non-polyester component into its products to further separate the polyester and the non-polyester components. Typically, the enzyme treatment encompasses incubating with at least one enzyme selected from the group consisting of lipase and protease in the presence of a buffer such as sodium phosphate. Typically, the strength of the buffer ranges from 80 to 120 mM and has pH ranging from 6.0 to 8.0. Furthermore, the step of incubating is carried out for a time period ranging from 15 to 48 hours at a temperature ranging from 40 to 60 °C and is accompanied by stirring at a speed ranging from 150 to 250 rpm. In accordance with the present process, the enzyme is a combination of lipase and protease. Furthermore, the enzyme has a concentration ranging from 1 to 10 g/L. Incubation with the afore-stated enzyme(s) results in further separation of the polyester component from the non-polyester component and the, thus, separated components are recovered.
The term 'products of the non-polyester component' includes the products or fragments of the non-polyester component obtained or left behind after the steps of alkali hydrolysis and/ or enzyme treatment. In one embodiment, 'products of the non-polyester component' is the hydrolysis products of the non-polyester component.
A characteristic feature of the embodiment where the step of enzyme treatment is carried out, is that separation of the non-polyester component from the polyester component is achieved twice, first chemically during the hydrolysis step and second biologically using the enzyme(s). This causes effective separation and maximum recovery of both the components.
The present disclosure will now be discussed in the light of the following non-limiting embodiments:
PET/Wool (75:25) blended fabric was tested for the recovery of its polyester and non-polyester components in accordance with the process of the present disclosure. The process was optimized as follows.

Example 1: Enzymatic hydrolysis of PET/Wool (75:25)

Sample: PET/Wool (75:25)

A number of hydrolysis trials were conducted on PET/Wool (75:25) fabric to achieve the separation of PET and wool. These trials and the results obtained are presented herein below in Table 1.
In the trial where alkali hydrolysis was tested, PET/Wool (75:25) was hydrolyzed by autoclaving with 4% NaOH at 121° C for 15 minutes. In another trial, PET/Wool (75:25) was incubated, without treatment with alkali, at 50 °C using protease (Papain, SRL ltd) followed by lipase (Sigma Aldrich) in the presence of 100 mM Na-phosphate buffer of pH 7.0. Here, 0.1 g of sample was taken per 40 ml of the buffer. The incubation time for protease treatment was 16 hours and for lipase was 48 hours. The concentration of both the enzymes was of 5 g/ L.
The results (Table 1) and the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images (Figure 1) indicate that:

alkali treatment alone is enough to remove the wool from the blend; and
use of enzymes alone without alkali treatment is not effective in hydrolyzing wool from PET/ Wool

This is derived from the fact that in Figures 1B (blend after treatment with alkali and enzymes) and 1C (after treatment with alkali alone), PET fiber alone is visible while wool has been completely removed.

Table 1: Enzymatic hydrolysis of PET/Wool (75:25)

Fabric	Treatment	Weight loss (%)
PET/Wool	Autoclaving in 4% NaOH+ Lipase	41.6
PET/Wool	Autoclaving in 4% NaOH + Protease + Lipase	46.0
PET/Wool	Lipase alone	4.0
PET/Wool	Autoclaving in 4% NaOH+ Protease	51.40
PET/Wool	Protease alone	3.80
PET/Wool	Only autoclaving in 4% NaOH	46.20

Example 2: Effect of different alkalis

Sample: PET/Wool (75:25) fabric

PET/wool fabric blend (75:25) samples weighing 0.5 g were pretreated with different alkalis such as 0.5 % (w/v) of sodium carbonate, 0.5 % (w/v) sodium hydroxide, 0.5 % (w/v) calcium carbonate and 0.5 % (w/v) calcium hydroxide. Fabric loading for the experiment was 1.25% (w/v) and the samples were autoclaved in the alkali at 121° C for 15 minutes. Post autoclaving, the fabric samples were rinsed thoroughly to remove the alkali traces and dried to record the weight loss.
It was observed that 0.5 % CaCO₃ was unable to separate wool from PET (Fig 2A). Similarly, traces of wool fiber were seen after treatment with 0.5% Na₂CO₃ (Fig 2B). Complete wool removal was observed after treatment with 0.5% Ca(OH)₂ (Fig 2C) and 0.5% NaOH (Fig 2D).
The results (Table 2) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images (Figure 2) indicate that:

Alkali treatment alone is enough to remove the wool from the blend in all cases except CaCO₃
Treatment with 0.5 % CaCO₃ alone does not have any effect on wool removal.

Table 2: Treatment of PET/wool (75:25) with different alkalis

Alkali variety	Wt. loss %
CaCO₃ (Figure 2A)	Nil
Ca(OH)₂ (Figure 2C)	30
Na₂CO₃ (Figure 2B)	27
NaOH (Figure 2D)	30

NaOH and Ca(OH)₂ being more hazardous from the point of view of the environment, Na₂CO₃ was considered as the alkali of choice for process optimization as it gave results similar to those of NaOH and Ca(OH)₂.

Example 3: Process optimization - alkali concentration

Sample: PET/wool (75:25)

PET/wool fabric (75:25) was pretreated with Na₂CO₃ having different concentrations (0 - 4%) with a fabric loading of 1.25 % (w/v) - pretreatment was done with 40 ml Na₂CO₃ and 0.5 g of fabric sample. Autoclaving was done at 121° C for 15 min. Post autoclaving, the fabric samples were rinsed thoroughly to remove the alkali traces and dried to record the weight loss.
From the results (Table 3) and the SEM images (Fig 3) it was clear that Na₂CO₃ treatment at 1% and above concentrations leads to complete removal of wool. No weight loss was recorded in untreated fabric samples. Table 3: Optimization of Na₂CO₃ concentration

Na₂CO₃ conc. (%) Wt. loss %

0.0 (Fig 3A) Nil

0.5 (Fig 3B) 27

1.0 (Fig 3C) 28

2.0 (Fig 3D) 30

3.0 (Fig 3E) 30

4.0 (Fig 3F) 30

TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES AND ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE

The process disclosed in the present disclosure facilitates recovery and recycling of polyester with high recovery rate.
The process of the present disclosure provides a means of disposal of waste polyester which is not harmful to the environment.

Claims

A process for recovering, from an article comprising a polyester blend comprising a polyester component and a non-polyester component, the polyester component and products of the non-polyester component wherein said non-polyester component is wool;
said process comprising hydrolyzing said article at a temperature ranging from 90 to 160 °C for a time period ranging from 10 to 90 minutes and at a pressure ranging from 0.034 MPa to 0.17 MPa (5 to 25 psi) using at least one hydrolyzing agent having concentration ranging from 3 to 5% (w/v) and pH ranging from 7 to 14 to convert said non-polyester component into products of the non-polyester component, and release the polyester component, wherein said hydrolyzing agent includes at least one alkali selected from the group consisting of sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate
The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said polyester component is polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of hydrolyzing said article includes a pre-step of shredding said article.
The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of hydrolyzing said article is carried out in an autoclave.
The process as claimed in claim 1, further includes incubating the article, after the step of hydrolyzing, with at least one enzyme selected from the group consisting of lipase and protease to further separate and recover the polyester component and the non-polyester component.
The process as claimed in claim 6, wherein said step of incubating is carried out in the presence of a buffer having strength ranging from 80 to 120 mM and pH ranging from 6.0 to 8.0 for an incubation period ranging from 15 to 48 hours at a temperature ranging from 40 to 60 °C; said buffer being sodium phosphate.
The process as claimed in claim 7, wherein said step of incubating includes stirring at a speed ranging from 150 to 250 rpm.
The process as claimed in claim 7, wherein said enzyme is a combination of lipase and protease and has a concentration ranging from 1 to 10 g/L.